Robson Street - Upscale Shopping

Upscale Shopping

Robson Street's role as a consumer district continues to the present day although the original flavour of the street, which was all small neighbourhood-market stores, has been supplanted by massive redevelopment by brand-name chain stores and high-end restaurants. Robson Street is particularly famous for the fashion shops and dining which extends from Granville Street in the southeast to Denman Street in the northwest, with the main concentration centred between Burrard and Bute Streets, which is the area also known historically as Robsonstrasse.

Although not technically on Robson Street but still considered part of the district, Burrard Street near Robson in addition to the areas of Alberni and Georgia Streets that cross near Burrard contain the most expensive upscale stores in the city, with prominent anchors such as Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Tiffany & Co., Lacoste, Coach, Pandora, Wolford, Fogal, Ports 1961, Escada, Urban Fare and The Shangri-La. This area, focussed around anchor Japanese-marketed businesses on Alberni, is also known as the "Little Ginza".

The street's intersection with Thurlow Street was known for having two Starbucks coffee shops on opposite corners, one of which was non-smoking prior to the enactment of the indoor smoking ban, and the other not. The location on the west corner is known as a major meeting place for the biker culture, with Harley-Davidsons, Japanese bikes, and cafe racers alike parked in a special bikes-only strip of parking painted on the pavement. It was also this corner of Robson and Thurlow that acted as the epicentre of the Stanley Cup Riot of 1994. One location has since been given up by Starbucks and picked up by Cafe Artigiano.